Back in July, we asked you to pray for a trip that Rabbi Jonathan Bernis and two leaders from our Congregation and Leadership Development (CLD) team were taking together. They traveled to Ethiopia and Zimbabwe for our annual gatherings of Messianic congregational leaders. These meetings were for teaching and equipping local leaders of the Messianic Jewish community.

We are so grateful for your prayers and excited to report that this trip was better than we even hoped it would be. The blessings we experienced on that trip – strengthened relationships among the leaders, the Lord’s presence and anointing, and the resulting breakthrough – all speak to the power of prayer and goodness of the Lord.

God heard and answered your prayers. Here are just some of the ways, along with some follow-up prayer requests:

• The audio Bibles arrived safely and were distributed in each country ­ – both the group size that can be heard by up to 200 people and the personal size that each leader received
  • Pray, as the Word of God now goes forth in each region, that many will hear and believe
• In Ethiopia, the almost 90 Messianic leaders from among three main groups of Ethiopian Jewish communities enjoyed a positive and productive conference taught by Rabbi Bernis and the CLD team. This united fellowship culminated in the head representatives of each of the groups serving communion to one another as a symbolic act of the breakthrough in relationships that they experienced
  • Please pray that this unity will continue to grow, leading to maturity, blessing and more Believers and congregations as a result
• We were privileged to affirm newly ordained leaders in Ethiopia and participate in the dedication of improvements to a full-time clinic run by the Ethiopian government. We continue to marvel at what the Lord is doing, both in raising up leaders and allowing us to bless their efforts in practical ways
  • Pray that the influence and effectiveness of these new leaders will spread far and wide in each region
• In Zimbabwe, more than 200 Messianic leaders gathered at their National Headquarters to receive training and encouragement. Several issues relating to life in Messiah, congregational and personal life were effectively addressed
  • Lift up these leaders in prayer so that everything they gained will be passed along and multiplied among their families and those they serve
• Young leaders are being discipled and raised up in each nation. One example is a creative young worship leader who writes songs for her people and leads a choir of young people
  • Pray for God to sustain seasoned leaders and also engage and mature younger leaders along with those new to the faith

Let’s pray:

Thank you, Lord, for the amazing ways you met with Rabbi Bernis, our two leaders who accompanied him, and all those we ministered to and with during these training visits. You did more than we asked or thought in every session of ministry and teaching, and we are so grateful. Bless these leaders in Africa, Father, as well as all who pray for them. In Yeshua’s name, Amen.

While it may be a few months off on the Gregorian calendar, the New Year is almost here on the Jewish calendar.

Jewish tradition teaches that God created the world on the first day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. This Jewish New Year is called Rosh Hashanah (Roshe Hah-SHAH-nah), which means “head of the year.” This year, Rosh Hashanah begins at sunset on September 29 and ends at sundown September 30.

This date is also the day God appointed as the Feast of Trumpets, or in Hebrew, Yom Teruah (Yohm Tare-OO-ah). The two holidays combine to begin the Fall Feasts of the Jewish year.

The Rabbis teach that at Rosh Hashanah, God pronounces judgment on each of His people for the coming year and that He seals that judgment on Yom Kippur (Yohm Ki-POUR), or the Day of Atonement.

Therefore, Rosh Hashanah and the days leading up to it are a time for self-examination and repentance as Jewish people seek God’s forgiveness and favor for the coming year. The 10 days after Rosh Hashanah are known as the Days of Awe when we intensify our reflection and focus on repentance and making amends with others. The Rabbis teach that during this time, God may yet alter what was to be an unfavorable decree on someone and grant a good year ahead.

As Messianic Jews, we know that God has sealed Believers in Yeshua with the Ruach HaKodesh (ROO-akh Ha-ko-DESH), the Holy Spirit, sealing us until the time of the Messiah’s return in glory (Ephesians 1:13-14).

Jewish people celebrate Creation and the start of a new year in synagogue services with special liturgy, prayers and blessings. Because the New Year falls on the Feast of Trumpets, services also include 100 blasts of the shofar (SHO-far), a trumpet made from an animal horn. Family celebrations include special meals and sweet foods to symbolize the hope of a sweet new year. Apples dipped in honey are a traditional treat. Holiday greetings include “A Good and Sweet Year!” and “For a Good Year!”

Messianic Jews also recognize that there is a prophetic aspect to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Teruah. All the Jewish Feasts that God ordained in Leviticus chapter 23 in some way serve as pictures of the coming Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus). The Spring Feasts of Passover, First Fruits and the Feast of Weeks contain prophetic images of Yeshua’s first coming – specifically, His death, resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit.

The Fall Feasts hold foreshadows of events related to His second coming – the prophesied last trumpet call, His final judgments on the earth, the redemption of Israel as they recognize their Messiah, and the coming Messianic age when Yeshua will reign as the Son of David over all the Earth . The Feast of Trumpets is often associated with the initiation of the Messianic Age and the raising of the dead in Messiah.

May your new year be blessed with sweet and good things from God’s hand.

L’shana Tovah!

(Li-SHAH-nuh TOH-vuh)

For a good year!

It is the site of the Second Temple that stood in Yeshua’s (Jesus’) day – where the promised Messiah walked, taught and worshiped.

Only the overwhelming force of invading armies has ever been able to drive the Jews from that rocky, sacred hill. And then, only temporarily.

The Babylonians, the Romans, the Crusaders, and finally the Muslim hoards have all tried. But each time, the Jewish people have been drawn back to their historic, God-granted place of origin.

For 4,000 years, Jerusalem in general and the Temple Mount in particular have served as the geographic focal point for the Jewish people.

Muslims fight for control of the Temple Mount

And today, tensions and conflict surrounding the Temple Mount are unlike any other time in history.

I shared earlier in June that Jewish visitors fell under attack when they were granted access to the Temple Mount to commemorate Jerusalem Day – celebrating God’s faithfulness in the Six Days War, when the Jewish people took back control of the Old City, reunifying Jerusalem.

Muslims rioted, throwing stones, chairs, anything they could get their hands on. Once police and Israeli forces dispersed the crowds, many Jewish people were able to enter and pray.

But this incident is just one of many. And the reality is, Muslims are intent on wresting complete control of the Temple Mount from the Jewish people.

In 1967, when the Jews won back the Old City, there was only one Mosque in the Temple Mount area. Today, there are five.

In fact, Muslim groups like the Palestinian Authority accuse the Jewish visitors of the Temple Mount as being “invaders” — and these groups are doing anything they can to prevent the Jewish people from worshiping at their most holy site.

Jewish visitors commemorating Tisha B’Av attacked by Muslims on the Temple Mount

Just last week, another violent protest erupted on the Temple Mount.

In honor of Tisha B’Av, the day of mourning when Jews commemorate the destruction of the First and Second Temples, Jewish visitors ascended the Temple Mount. And they were met with violence at the hands of Muslims.

Four police officers and dozens of others were injured in the skirmish.

But nothing will keep the people of Israel from gathering on God’s holy mountain. Not those who refuse to acknowledge the Jewish Temples ever existed. Not those who claim Israel has no right to exist. And not those who will stop at nothing until Israel and her people have been destroyed.

Temple Mount: a signpost to end-time revival

Even now, with so much contention surrounding the Temple Mount, I sense God stirring the hearts of His people.

I believe the seasons ahead will be a massive time of God opening the eyes of the Jewish people to the truth that Yeshua is the promised Mashiach (Messiah)!

This may have been what Ezekiel foresaw when he prophetically wrote:

For on My holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD, there in the land all the people of Israel will serve Me, and there I will accept them (Ezekiel 20:40 NIV).

Such a movement could act as a holy spark that might possibly ignite one of the greatest revivals in human history – in Israel and throughout the Middle East.

And you could be a part of it all!

Be a part of God’s work to reach the Jewish people with the Gospel

Your support today to bless the people of Israel will help provide the greatest and most eternal blessing we can bestow upon a Jewish person: an introduction to the Messiah, Yeshua.

That’s the core of our entire ministry at Jewish Voice. And I believe it’s the reason behind your faithful prayers and giving.

And I pray you’ll be willing to give a generous gift to help.

Your generosity will help save and support the Jewish people – in Israel and around the world – by providing:

• Life-saving humanitarian relief and resources to Jewish people throughout Africa
• Critical dental and eye care for Holocaust survivors in Israel
• Peace and eternal hope through sharing the Gospel of Jesus to the Jewish people